New Centre-Fuge Murals Coming Thursday on East 1st Street

The Centre-Fuge graffiti art project on East First Street – the revolving grassroots endeavor to beautify a mid-block office trailer eyesore – is a hidden highlight worthy of a gander. Every few months, organizers Pebbles Russell and Jonathan Neville choose a different roster of artists to make a colorful mark on the neighborhood. Now the local duo is gearing up for the third round of creativity.

March 2012

Get ready for cycle 3 of Centre-Fuge. Painting begins this Thursday, and will remain in place through July 12. The street writers participating in Cycle 3 are Bishop 203, CRAM Concepts, Danielle Mastrion, Fumero, Jade Fusco, and Michael DeNicola.

Photo Credit: Clayton Patterson

Proposals for Cycle 4 are being fielded simultaneously, so send in yours by June 15. Centre-Fuge is dedicated to the memory of Lower East Side neighbor Mike Hamm, whose work is permanently installed on the eastern facade of the trailer.

Below are bios for the new crop of artists:

Bishop203 grew up in the industrial heart of Bridgeport, Connecticut where as a teen he turned to the concrete canvases of abandoned factories. With his 203 Crew, Bishop’s work was typified by incorporating characters into his graffiti. Bishop moved down south to Charlottesville, Virginia where a vacant freight train track captured his mind and he and his palette expanded along with the canvas. Bishop’s relationships then became a focal point in his art. He began incorporating pop-art renditions of women into the center of his pieces, representing their status as objects on a pedestal. He navigated his way throughout the space that encompassed these women through painful representations with sharp lines and bold colors, juxtaposing a relationship’s pleasure and pain. Today, Bishop’s previous styles and inspirations can be found in his bright yet sometimes-sinister work.

CRAM Concepts received his art training in the abandoned buildings and structures by his home in Staten Island. With loads of ambition and a desire to expand his world, CRAM Concepts studied graphic design at Parsons School of Design, eventually making a career for himself in the fashion industry. In the late 90s, he was one of the pioneers of “graffiti on girls,” and went on to produce several shows featuring NYC’s most infamous writers body-painting beautiful women. CRAM Concepts has been featured in numerous group shows throughout NYC including shows at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, Williamsburg Art and Historical Society, and Kid Robot’s Paintball Exhibition. With a passion for traveling, he has painted murals extensively throughout North America and Europe. CRAM Concepts currently lives and works in Manhattan.

Danielle Mastrion is a born and raised Brooklynite working as a painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and photographer. Danielle earned a BFA in Illustration at Parsons School of Design with a focus on Studio Painting and Design. From leading Married to the MOB’s design team to studio portraiture, Danielle is comfortable in almost any creative situation. In the past four years Danielle has made live art central to her process. At gallery openings, music venues, concerts, artist showcases and clubs, Danielle has painted all over. Recently, Danielle won Art Battles’ “Battle For Poland,” and will travel to Poland this spring to represent the United States. Danielle’s work has been showcased at The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Corcoran Gallery, Parsons’ Aronson Galleries, 5POINTZ, Soapstone Gallery, and Galapagos Art Space, among many others. Her work
will also be featured this month at the Salon D’Arte in the LES. Danielle draws inspiration from hip hop, grunge, zombies, pirates, Kurt Cobain, and the Notorious B.I.G – not in that order.

Fumero was born in New York City where he developed a childhood fascination with graffiti art. At age 13 Fumero first used spray paint on walls and by 14 he was painting wild style letter designs on denim pants, jackets and canvases with acrylic. Fumero went on to study graphic design before entering The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. At SVA, all of Fumero’s influences came together to cement his personal style: cartooning as a child, graffiti as a teenager, graphic design at community college and caricature with figurative illustration at SVA. His distinct personal style, dubbed “Fumeroism,” uses exaggerated shapes and vivid colors enveloped in bold, black contours to reinvent illustration and produce movement and energy. Fumero now teaches art to inner city high school students by day and creates Fumeroism by night. Fumero’s mural in celebration of Hank O’Neal’s “XCIA’s Street Art Project” is currently on view at the Strand Bookstore.

Jade Fusco, aka DMZL (“damsel”) is a Brooklyn-based visual and performance artist. For years she has been the illustrator of a kaleidoscopic menagerie of strange and otherworldly creatures. DMZL is now in the process of facilitating the next step in their evolution by realizing them as palpable characters in an immersive theatrical experience she calls DMZL Ritual Art Theatre (D.R.A.T.). Through DRAT she hopes to bring her art to life and invite others to participate in the creation of total fantasy environments.

Michael DeNicola is an illustrator and graphic designer living in New York City. He enjoys peanut butter, skateboarding, premium cable television, and drawing hauntingly pretty pictures. His work has been shown in Gallery Nucleus, LA and featured in Giant Robot. Currently he is working on portraits.